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Bark-ing up the wrong tree

My cousin’s wife, who works for the city, is receiving a social network platform training session. For me that is equal to “learning” how to spy on those that you call “customers” too.

Where I can understand the governments’ will and efforts to curb abuse of the social benefit system, I am certain that those who absolutely abuse the system, will continue to corrupt the bureaucracy and the innocent at heart, will have theirs broken in more than one place.

The social support in this country is almost equal to none on this planet. Where after a few reforms, it has been made difficult(but not impossible) to exploit the structure, the abusers with their boldness, continue to thrive- the meek and really needy, loiter in limbo-because of their shame and helplessness…things do and did not change for the better,

Speaking about the financial aid the city or government offers in support of or as a measure to constructively help its citizens to stand on their own two feet(funded by tax-payers), I am currently witnessing first hand how such “well intended strategies” fail to pan out in reality and should be considered squander.
For example, the city pays for a further education with a certificate from the local Chamber of Commerce. This paper alone should make it easier to obtain a job, as it shows not only theoretical but also practical qualifications. A great deal of planning and heart must have gone into the logistics of such courses, obviously developed by skilled, qualified and well seasoned professionals. Accepted by the employment office and granted at will to those who show interest or are deemed “fit”. So far, so good.
Where the theoretical part of the course is more than just valuable information, the practical part for many may not be such a positive experience. As unpaid labor, one has the possibilities and opportunities to observe how book-knowledge is implemented. For seven weeks and 40 hours a week, one can collect experiences and build up applied know-how.
Trainees, in serious businesses are somewhat burdensome, because of the efforts that have to be made in order to transfer knowledge by experienced staff, to guide, educate and foster. Many companies have programs and staff for just this purpose. They would never operate on a “throw them into the sea and let them swim” motto, cause the mistakes that are made early on, could cost the business its reputation and of course, cash(especially in the service oriented industry, word of mouth travels very fast). Those companies stand apart in more than one way. Taking on a trainee means, they are investing in a prospective employee. The wages and benefits they offer are fair and the chances for advancement both career-wise and financially, depend entirely on the ambitions of the people. The whole package enables them to leave their dependance on the state social benefits behind.

But the probability of such an ideal road of redemption is slim. Especially for the single mothers and the “elderly’ women. The former faces not only the dilemma of having to leave her child/ren while she works, but also the challenges of every day life, for which she alone, is responsible. Having single mother written on your C.V. instantaneously makes her an undesirable for every employer. Given the vast possibilities of childhood illnesses that have to be surpassed, she can not find employment where she chooses and that at the same time makes her the victim of exploitation for businesses which specialize in the lowest wages and conditions. While she works purely out of financial distress, because the aid she receives barely suffices for the minimums of life, she usually remains a sitting target. At the mercy of the State and the ethics of the economy, because she will hardly ever earn enough to escape the social aid, she subsides with her child/ren along the poverty line.
The latter – Women of a certain age, who out of changed life circumstances are forced to rejoin the labor pool, are faced with similar problems. They do not have small children to look after, but many of them don’t possess any marketable skills and are also equally marked by companies which use just this fact to their own advantage. These women are looking at a retirement future in which, without the support of the government and even with it, they are living a hand-to-mouth-existence.
It isn’t enough that women in the work force receive a whopping 23% less in wages than men! It isn’t enough that they bear children, the future tax payers of the economy. Nor that they literally work much more and much harder than men! No, it is not enough! Cause in the end, they are punished for raising children and not working towards a pension fund, or for that matter working to pay into a retirement pool at subsistence level.
Such programs developed by the State, proposed and passed as laws or reforms by our politicians, are what the Germans call WELTFREMD – quixotic. Tax payers money is wasted, in idealistic ideas that do not measure up to reality. But that is just money, money is just paper…but real people suffer the consequences!
Which brings me back to my title:

Barking up the wrong tree!
Which means…. to make the wrong choice; to ask the wrong person; to follow the wrong course.